
| |
How to Pray for your Pastor
|

|
 |
Christians need to pray for and
with each other. But we particularly need to support Christian leaders, whether in the
church, or in society. Church leaders face many challenges - balancing the roles of
pastor, priest, preacher, church leader, and administrator, besides other roles they may
have such as husband or father. Those Christians in secular leadership positions face the
challenge of remaining true to the gospel in a complex and difficult world. Like it
or not, Christian pastors will have cast upon them heavy burdens of expectation, with
society ready to condemn any weakness or mistake. |
"The
best way to fire your pastor,
is to pray for them!" |
We should expect
our leaders to be men and women of prayer, but we should equally expect to support our
pastors in prayer. Our recent global survey on prayer estimated that fewer than one
quarter of churchgoers pray regularly for their church leaders. Here we offer some
thoughts that may help you pray for your leader in your personal prayer time through the
week. If you have more than one leader, you could spend a week praying for each one.
|
Through
the week..... |
Monday
- Pray for them as pastor - bringing the love of Jesus to those around them, shepherding
their church members. |
Tuesday
- Pray for their preaching ministry, that they would hear, and believe God's word, and
proclaim in faithfully - being effective in their communication. |
Wednesday
- Pray for their leadership role - seeking future vision, and leading the church into that
vision, encouraging and enabling church members in ministry. |

|
Thursday
- Pray for your pastors' own walk of faith - for their prayer life, for their faith,
that they would grow spiritually and in their love for God. |
Friday
- Pray for their personal time - for relaxation and renewal, to avoid the pressures and
stress of ministry. |
Saturday
- If your pastor is married, pray for them as husband / wife, and if appropriate, as
father / mother. Otherwise pray for their relationships with those who are close to them. |
Sunday
- Pray for them as they lead worship, and in their roles as church leader - particularly
their relationships with church members, and any relationships that are difficult at this
time. |
Prayer for leadership is the spiritual equivalent of filling a balloon, giving the
church the potential to grow in its mission, following the wind of God's Spirit. Two
things will help this :
- the whole church, or as many as possible, sharing the task of praying for their
leadership,
- praying for the broader leadership in the church, not just those who are in
full-time positions of leadership or who are ordained.
|

|
More
ideas on praying for pastors and other forms of prayer can be found at www.prayerguide.org.uk |
|